Pirates off Africa’s western coast attacked a Malta-registered tanker and kidnapped three of its crew members, as reported by Romania’s Free Trade Union of Navigators (SLN) and the Romanian Ministy of Foreign Affairs (MAE).
The tanker ‘Histria Ivory’ run by Romanian crew members was under attack on February 3, when voyaging through the Gulf of Guinea.
The incident took place 20 nautical miles off the port of Lome in Togo.
The majority of the 21 crew members did evade capture. Yet, the attackers managed taking three hostage before leaving.
Due to the piracy attack, the vessel proceeded to its security protocol and made it to a safe anchorage area off Lome.
In its statement, Romania’s Free Trade Union of Navigators urged seafarers to be alert in the area.
As the union commented the areas that are thought to be ‘high risk’ it is of an importance to increase vigilance on the bridge and tune radar for small distances to prevent any attempted attack to succeed.
The Malta-registered, 40,450 tonne vessel transfers petrochemical products between Togo and Liberia. It belongs to Romanian shipping company Histria Shipmanangement.
Concluding, the Gulf of Guinea is a dangerous area for seafarers. According to BIMCO, in the last three months of 2018, 41 kidnappings were recorded in waters off Nigeria alone.
